Why did Jesus ask 'why are you afraid' after the storm?

To expose that the disciples' fear had made them forget he was with them. He did not deny the storm was real but asked, 'Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?' (Mark 4:40), calling them back to trust in his presence and power.

What does Jesus calming the storm teach about fear?

That the antidote to fear is not the absence of storms but the presence of Christ. Fear can convince us we are alone with our troubles; Jesus' question reminds us he is in the boat and has authority over the waves.

A question Jesus asked

“Why Are You Afraid?”

Asked in the storm · Mark 4:40

When a storm terrified his disciples, Jesus calmed the sea and then asked, 'Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?' (Mark 4:40; Luke 8:25 adds 'Where is your faith?'). The question exposed that they had forgotten who was in the boat with them.

He asked it

“Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”

Jesus · Mark 4:40

Why he asked

These were fishermen; they knew this lake and its storms. So when they are terrified, the storm is genuinely bad, waves breaking into the boat, the vessel filling. And Jesus is asleep in the stern on a cushion, which is its own quiet sermon. They wake him with an accusation, half prayer, half panic: do you not care that we perish? He gets up, speaks to the wind and the sea, and there is a great calm.

Then the question, and notice what he does not ask. He does not say, was the storm real? Of course it was. He asks, 'Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?' The problem he names is not that they felt fear in a storm; the problem is what the fear revealed, that in the crisis they forgot who was in the boat with them. Fear had told them they were alone with the waves. They were not. The One who made the sea was asleep three feet away.

Fear told them they were alone with the storm. The One who made the sea was three feet away, asleep.

And he asks it of youYou have storms too, and in them the same forgetting happens: the fear grows so loud it convinces you that you are alone with it, that no one is in the boat. He asks you the same question, not to shame the fear, but to recall you to the fact underneath it. Why are you so afraid? Where is your faith? He has not left the boat.

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The question waits for an answer

A question is not a lecture; it waits for you. These were not asked two thousand years ago and closed. The same Jesus is still asking, and Living Bread is a quiet place to sit with the question, read the Gospels, and answer him honestly, at your own pace.

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Frequently asked questions

Why did Jesus ask 'why are you afraid' after the storm?: To expose that the disciples' fear had made them forget he was with them. He did not deny the storm was real but asked, 'Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?' (Mark 4:40), calling them back to trust in his presence and power.
What does Jesus calming the storm teach about fear?: That the antidote to fear is not the absence of storms but the presence of Christ. Fear can convince us we are alone with our troubles; Jesus' question reminds us he is in the boat and has authority over the waves.

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